Safety device for door-latches.



No. 636,365. Patented Nov. 7, l899.-

K. STELZENMULLER.

' SAFETY DEVICE FOR DOOR LATCHES.

(Application filed Mar. 16, 1899.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES KARL STELZENMIILLER', OF.NEW YORK, N. Y.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR DOOR-LATCHES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 636,365, dated November 7, 1899. Application filed March 16, 1899. Serial No. 709,264. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, KARL STELZENMiiLLER, a citizen of Germany, and a resident of New York city, county and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Safety Devices for Door-Latches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improved means for securing the latches of refrigerator and other doors when such doors are to be closed over night or at other times when the refrigerator is to be rendered inaccessible.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a face view of my improved safety device, showing it applied to a door. F'fg. 2 is a section on line 2 2, Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a plan; Fig. 4:, a perspective view of the safety device, and Fig. 5 a similar view of a modification.

The doors of large refrigerators, ice-houses, and similar structures are frequently closed by a latch, consisting of a locking-lever a, pivoted at a to the door-frame A and adapted to be swung behind a hook or keeper 1?, projecting forwardly from a plate Z), that is screwed to the door B. During night and at other times when access to the refrigerator is to be denied it is desirable'that the lever may be locked to its keeper, so as to thereby lock the door B.

My invention relates to novel means for quickly accomplishing this purpose; and it consists, essentially, of an annular plate '0, to the back of which a pair of shanks at are pivoted at d. The central opening 0 of plate 0 is of a size to admit the hook I), and at its front the plate 0 is provided with a grooved upturned lip 0 that prevents the plate from being forced over the tip of the hook by being tilted on the pivot 01. The shanks d are so shaped as to extend forward near their upper and lower ends, their main or rear portion corresponding in height substantially to the height of the lever a, Fig. 2, so that the shanks straddle the lever. At the lower ends the shanks cl again extend downward and are provided with eyes d adapted for the reception of the bow of a padlock D.

To look the door B after the latch has been closed, the plate 0 is slipped over the free end of hook b until it rests on the lever a, while the shanks d are passed between the door and the lever, so as to partially embrace the latter. The lower or free ends of the shanks d are now locked together by the padlock D, when it will be impossible to raise the plate 0 off the hook and consequently to disengage the lever a from the keeper. Thus it will be seen that the door B is securely locked.

In some cases the lever a is so thick near its pivoted end that no room is left between it and the door for the reception of the shank d. In this case the position of one of these shanks is reversed, Fig. 5, so that it bulges forwardlyinstead of rearwardly. This shank d will project over the front of lever a, While the second shank d will project over the back of the lever, the same as in Fig. 2. Thus when the shanks d d are connected by the lock D the device will again be so secured to the hook b that the lever 04 cannot be liberated.

What I claim is 1. A device forllocking latches, composed I of a perforated plate, a pair of shanks pivoted thereto,

and means for interlocking the free ends of the shanks, substantially as specified. 2. A device for locking latches, composed of a perforated plate and a pair of bent shanks pivoted thereto, and having perforated lower ends which are adapted to be connected by a lock, substantially as specified.

' 3. A device for locking latches, composed of a perforated plate having at its forward end an upwardly-extending lip, and of a pair of bent shanks pivoted to the rear of the plate, and having perforated lower ends which are adapted to be connected by a lock, substantially as specified.

WILLIAM ScHULz, F. v. BRIESEN. 

